I own nothing.

Chapter 1

Emma felt the pain run through her like a skewer as she pushed a wail sounding as she collapsed back onto the pillows. She could hear that wail like a clap of continuous thunder in the distance as she held her tears back. She had thought she was prepared for this moment, but as she struggled to breath the room seeming to close in on her, Emma realized she wasn't ready. She could hear her newborn baby and some part of her wanted to open her eyes, so she could look at him just once before they took him away, but she couldn't risk the temptation. Instead, she had to keep her eyes closed, and wait for them to take him away.

"It's a boy, Emma" the doctor sounded so happy, so overjoyed for her as he said it. Emma felt his eyes on her waiting for her reaction, but Emma couldn't do anything. She could only keep her eyes closed her hands gripping the bars of the bed she was handcuffed to. She couldn't give into the temptation he was presenting to open her eyes. All she could do was listen as a nurse explained that she was giving the baby up.

"Just so you know, Emma, you can still change your mind" said the doctor his words daring her to open her eyes.

Emma looked anywhere, but at the baby.

"No…I can't be a mother" Emma sounded vulnerable, weak as the tears broke her in that moment her eyes closing to cover them.

"Let's take him to the nursery" those were the last words she heard before the wailing started to fade away until she could no longer hear it, but Emma could still hear it even after it was over, and she was out of prison attempting to rebuild her life.

"He's better off without you" Emma let those words lead her footsteps through life after that, but they were mostly unsuccessful. Emma could feel life passing her by moving like the wind around her, but she was stuck tied to a tree as a tornado whirled around her. It was like that moment had captured her and refused to let go. Emma just wanted to get away from it, to escape to a place where she might forget that she had ever almost been a mother but sitting alone as she always seemed to be now, Emma knew life didn't work that way.

Emma was stuck in every sense of the word, she wasn't blind to it, and neither was the pair of eyes that had been watching her since she was released from the stone walls that had held her. Those eyes had needed a way to stray her from her path, to keep her from becoming the savior, and she knew as she watched the girl just how to severe her from her destiny. Fiona had traveled far using magic that few possessed to find herself here. She had found the girl as she was locked away and she saw sooner then she expected that she would be easy to keep from her path. Watching the girl, she saw her parents in her, but they were suppressed by the events this girl's life had dealt her, and Fiona couldn't help thinking that she was not the savior yet. She didn't know who she was and if Fiona had her way, she never would. Fiona knew this girl was meant to be the savior, but she also knew if she never got to StoryBrooke that that would never happen, and she knew just how to stop Emma Swan's story. She approached the girl when she was vulnerable, sitting alone in a coffee shop.

"You look like you could use a helpful hand…like you need someone to help you escape from whatever it is you've gotten yourself into" Fiona's voice startled Emma out of her own thoughts. Their eyes met triggering Emma's fight or flight instinct as she sized up this woman all dressed in black who had appeared, so suddenly behind her. Despite her tall black heels, Emma hadn't heard her coming, and as she got closer, Emma tried to remember her, but she wasn't someone from her past. As she sat down in front of her, Emma couldn't help questioning what role this woman would play in her future.

"Don't be afraid, my dear, I am not here to hurt you, but to help you. To save you from this situation you find yourself in" Fiona kept surprising her as she seemed to be able to read her mind. Emma tried to hide how shaken up this woman had made her, but this woman seemed to be able to read her almost flawlessly. It was then Emma realized her own mistake as she noticed the picture of Neal and herself that she had left lying on the table. It was all she had left of her life with him and before she could snatch it up, this woman beat her to it.

"Mm mm…who's this?" Fiona asked even as she already knew the answer. Snatching the picture before Emma could, Fiona gazed at the man she knew to be her grandson, she could see her own son in his eyes, and as he stood cramped together with Emma, they looked happy. It made her smile break through as she looked at the photo then at the girl he'd left behind.

"It's nothing…give it back…who the hell are you" Emma felt like a child again as this woman towered over her even as she sat just across from her. That picture was all she had left, and she didn't want to share it with anyone else. Especially not this stranger who had just appeared for reasons that she didn't know.

"Well phrased, but to put it simply, my dear, you can call me your fairy godmother…you could say I'm here to save you from becoming something you shouldn't" as Emma stared failing to understand nor believe her, Fiona felt the irony of lying while also telling the truth. As she spoke, she set the photo back onto the table sliding it across the table before Emma snatched it back hiding it away just as quickly. She was on edge, her guard was up, but that didn't worry Fiona as she continued to draw her into her web.

"Did you just break out of the looney bin, lady…fairy godmothers are something out of fairy tales. They don't exist" making Fiona smile as she looked at the savior who was not yet the savior in every way; this girl believed in nothing, she was hardened and pessimistic, but Fiona still knew someday, she would be the savior, and she couldn't allow her to get to that point.

"Really, then how do I know, so much about you…how do I know that you want to leave this place" said Fiona matter of factly.

"I don't know" the words left Emma's lips even as she didn't want them to, this woman's presence throwing her off guard as she kept having the uncanny ability to read her mind or at least that's what it felt like.

"How is it that you seem to be able to read me?" Emma knew she had to ask the question even as she somehow knew the answer this woman would give in response. This woman was scaring her. She had only been thinking about wanting to leave and never come back, about finding a place where she could get a fresh start when this woman had come upon her, so suddenly.

"I told you, my dear, I'm your fairy godmother" Fiona felt her patience tried as she continued to be unnecessarily kind to this girl her devilish smile the only sign of her trying patience.

"I could do it too, you know…take you away from this place" continued Fiona finally gaining her full attention.

"How?" whispered Emma.

"I can send you to a place where your story will stop…you won't cease to exist in this world but start a new life in another" the way she said it enticed Emma immediately. It sounded like just want she had been wanting, but at the same time, it sounded too good to be true. The woman was drawing her in and Emma found herself wanting to be drawn in as she listened wanting to know more.

"Your story will stop, and you can have a new beginning of sorts…I can do that for you if you allow it. Come here tonight and I'll show you" Fiona knew that if she left now that Emma would be in her web and that she would come as she simply got up leaving the girl to consider everything she had said in her most elusive way. There was an alleyway next to the coffee shop where Fiona could wait for her prey and as she expected Emma came. She was carrying a suitcase and as she walked passed the alley, Fiona stepped out.

"Emma?" said Fiona making the girl spin to face her.

"I'm glad you came…come…let me take you to your new future. If you're ready that is?" Fiona spoke slowly working her words to entice the girl more, but this was unnecessary. Emma had considered everything since the two had parted and her mind was made up. She wanted a new start and that was exactly what this woman was offering; it was an offer she was accepting as she practically ran up to the woman.

"I'm ready…I want that fresh start you spoke of, but where am I going. Where is this place you talked about?" Emma knew she couldn't go without knowing this first. Fiona answered without a word almost immediately. With a wave of her hand, a door appeared at the end of the alleyway, and motioning for her to follow, Fiona started to walk towards it.

"I'm sending you to the land of untold stories…to a new beginning" said Fiona motioning for Emma to follow her to the door.

"Once you get there, you'll probably encounter a few…people whose stories you know. People, who like you wanted their stories to stop for reasons I'm sure you can understand" Emma nodded at her words not understanding exactly what she meant, but not caring as she looked at the door before the woman was opening it.

"Thank you…for giving me this" Emma couldn't look at the woman as she said the words her emotions heavy as she prepared to step into a new beginning that she had thought only hours before wasn't possible for her.

"After you, my dear" said Fiona. As Emma walked through that door, she didn't look back or say a word even as it closed behind her.

MANY YEARS LATER

"After you, my dear" the memory of the words repeated in Emma's dream waking her from it. She blinked into the darkness, a smile following as she remembered that night that had changed everything nearly three years ago. She still didn't believe that that woman had been her fairy godmother, something told her that was a lie, but she couldn't dwell on that. That same woman had brought her here, to a new beginning, a place where she could create a new life for herself, and where she had made new friends. That woman had been right; this place was where she belonged. This land of untold stories was her new beginning. She had made a new life, a better life for herself, and as a shadow fell over her in the moonlight, Emma rolled to her back facing that shadow.

It was him. The man that represented love to her. Emma had all but given up on those things since Neal had left her the way he did. It had taken him, his ever menacing yet flameful gaze to show her what love was again. He had taught her that, here, in the most unlikely of places. It was a place he controlled yet didn't as well. A place perfect for him, the most unlikely unstoppable of men, as it was for her, and Emma truly believed that that was why she was sent here. She was meant to find him here. Somehow, she believed it her fate. After everything that happened with Neal, love was something Emma felt repelled by until this shadow of a man appeared at first as a menace then as a suitor, to show her what true love could truly be.

"Stop standing in the shadows and come here" Emma's voice was filled with sleep as she rose on her elbows enticing him to come closer. He didn't move right away. He stayed in the shadows as if that were his rightful place and waiting for him, Emma felt a longing inside her that she hadn't felt even when she was with Neal. This man drew feelings within her that she didn't think anyone else was capable of. With that thought, he started to draw into the moonlight where she could see him. Edward Hyde emerged slowly out of the shadows to sit on her bed. Emma felt immediately soothed by his touch as his fingers splayed across her cheek drawing her up from the bed. She followed him eagerly wanting nothing more then to be closer to him and looking into his dark gaze, she knew he felt the same. Leaning closer, Hyde hesitated, but a moment giving her a chance to deny him her kiss. She didn't, wanting him just as much, and smiling Emma met him as their lips met in a slow kiss.

As the kiss moved from chaste to passionate, Emma felt as his hand grabbed hers lingering until it moved to the small of her back.

"Just once I'd like you to show up before the sun goes down. I'm starting to feel like your dirty little secret" Emma meant the words to be playful yet serious at the same time speaking them just as their lips parted. She felt out of breath as she looked up at him expecting some sort of response, but he said nothing. He only looked at her his hand still touching her face. It made Emma lean closer to him until her body lay almost splayed against his in what she deemed the perfect union. When he laughed, the sound gave her chills, but the kind she had grown to enjoy. That laugh balanced her. It made her long for him in not just a sexual way, but a very human way. Emma found she loved that laugh as she leaned closer into his touch enjoying her limited time with him. Edward took her face in his hands and with the moonlight contrasting with her eyes, he found himself tracing the outline of her lips.

"My love…a secret you may be, but never an unclean one. You are the purest thing in my existence. You are necessary to me" the way he said it with his breath fanning out against her face gave Emma those chills again. They made her smile as her hands found the lapels of his always elegant suit using them in her favorite way to draw him all the closer to her. She saw the outline of a smile playing on his lips as she pressed herself to him kissing first the scar across his face. When she did so, she saw him close his eyes before her lips moved to his throat kissing him there too before holding his face in her hands. That was when he opened his eyes to look at her and sharing a smile, Emma pecked him sweetly on the lips.

"Emma Swan…you give me meaning. Where I was a monster before I met you, you made a man. You mean so much to me…I fear you'll never know how I truly feel no matter how I express it" his words came as a sigh. Emma drew him into a kiss in response. A slow tender kiss fiercer then the one before it. It was like they were connected, by something deep within themselves that even they failed to understand, and drawing away once more, they shared a breath. A scarce breath that led them into another deep kiss. Her kiss drew her deeper into his arms her body perfectly molded to his. Soon, they found themselves lying together on her bed, and only as his lips were leaving his mark on her throat did Emma manage to speak.

"You're wrong" gasped Emma causing him to draw away his eye's intent on her.

"I know how precious I am to you, Edward, you keep me a secret from Jekyll…that's an act of love" whispered Emma seeing the emotion in his eyes as her words rang true. His kiss told her so as they attacked hers and as she returned it with vigor, Emma remembered that moment in that alleyway. This is what that moment had led to.

To her future, the thing some called a destiny with him. Leaning heavily into him, Emma couldn't be anymore grateful for stepping through that door. As that thought ended, Emma felt his hands along her sides touching her with his surprisingly gentle touch. Their lips drew away then and their eyes though heavy lidded held their true feelings. Feelings, neither of them had yet to say out loud.

Edward didn't need to say it out loud, he said it in other ways. With the vary gentle touch she felt now, with the vary look in his eyes, and in his heated kisses. Emma found herself captivated by him tonight though, there was something in his eyes.

"Edward?" whispered Emma searching his eyes for it. He didn't speak right away.

Edward only continued to look at her until suddenly Emma felt his touch soften somehow as he held her face in his hands.

"Ms. Swan…Emma…you—you catch me quite off guard, you have since we met…you warm my heart in a way only you are capable—I love you very much" whispered Edward her hands guiding his lips down to hers in response.

AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

"I love you very much," Emma flew awake from yet another dream. A dream that felt too real for her liking. A dream with that same shadow of a man that caused strange feelings to roil inside her. Emma found herself longing for him, feeling the type of emotion for him she hadn't experienced since Neal. It had her going through the motions of her usual morning trying to get herself to forget the dream and the man.

She tried to forget the way he said he loved her. That moment had felt so real, Emma heard those words as an echo on her mind constantly repeating. Until closing her eyes, Emma pushed it all to the back of her mind; she had a job to do. Like everything else about her life, Emma went through the motions. She did her job as a bail bondsman pretending like something wasn't missing.

That was what she did that day, forgetting until the day was almost over that it was her twenty eighth birthday. After throwing her date for the night in jail, she returned to her empty apartment, and with no one to celebrate with, as always, Emma put a single candle in her birthday cupcake, and closing her eyes, she made a wish. Opening her eyes, Emma watched the small flame flicker before blowing it out, she felt a chill akin to the one she felt in her dream. As it ran over her skin, a knock sounded at her door drawing Emma away into what she didn't know was a fate that had been decided for her long before she was even born. Opening the door, Emma found a kid standing there a gleeful smile on his face.

"Are you Emma Swan?" said the kid immediately catching her off guard.

"Yeah" said Emma her whole body suddenly on guard.

"Who wants to know?" continued Emma.

"I'm Henry. I'm your son" said Henry causing her heart to pound. It couldn't be.

He couldn't be the baby she'd given up nearly ten years ago. That memory from long ago flashed through her mind and Emma felt like she couldn't breathe. Somehow, she knew it was true; this was her son. As the thought passed, Henry moved past her into her apartment, and closing the door behind him, Emma felt her words become stuck in her dry throat.

"Hey kid, I don't know who you are, but I don't have a son" said Emma trying to remain strong even as she knew it to be a lie.

"Yes, you do. You gave a baby up for adoption ten years ago. That was me" said Henry as if it was the simplest thing in the world. As Emma stood there watching him examine everything in her apartment, she didn't know what was happening. Was this destiny, fate or some sort of nightmare. She didn't know what was happening, her world seemed to be all mixed up.